A reminder when PT is hard...be good to yourself

Clocks spring forward...that means looking forward to another good day, right?

PT still going well -- walked another 1.5 miles on Sat; the weather here was beautiful, in the mid 50s, sunny, low humidity. More hilly path + more around the lake yesterday. Will see if my back can get in gear to do it again today.

Uphill routes are really challenging -- not so much aerobically -- it's that my post-surgery back muscles are really tight and it slows me down. Even with PT stretches before and after, argh...like taut rubber bands. Everything takes time.

Reaching 1.5 miles means I've been able to reach my distance goal to cross the Brooklyn Bridge (1.13428 miles=5,989 ft) for my 50th birthday (July 8). That probably doesn't include length of on/off ramps. I now just have to be able to do it in a decent strolling time. I'm pretty slow now. But before surgery, I couldn't walk one block, let alone a mile. I am thankful, I'll take slow + dealing with my normal chronic pain from my RA and fibromyalgia and being able to walk again.

But on these hills during my PT walks I just pump up the music, forge up the freaking hills (seemingly slow as a turtle!) and remind myself that only a few weeks ago, right after the discectomy, my goal was to just make it around the cul-de-sac...and that put me out for a four-hour nap...

"Be good to yourself when, nobody else will 
Oh be good to yourself 
You're walkin' a high wire, caught in a cross fire 
Oh be good to yourself ..."
--Journey, Raised on Radio (1986)

The original:



With Arnel Pineda:



Related:
* Back to work...butthurt begins in the chair
* Cleared to go back to work!
* Working my way back to trek across the Brooklyn Bridge for my big 5-0
* Milestone: tanking up...and a good day for PT walking (finally)
* RA rears up and says "don't forget about me."
* Can put on jeans again!
* Not so fast, young lady...your back is still f'd up
* Post-surgery update: tail end of flu; may need another MRI
* Week 3 post-spine surgery, week 2 of the flu
* Week 2 post-L5-S1 slice and dice: good news, not so good news
* News on life after the L5-S1 slice and dice